Recently divorced, with a five year old and two ailing parents to care for, Sandra* was struggling to make ends meet. Throughout her short-lived marriage, Sandra opted to be a homemaker, sacrificing her career to tend to her family. She never once thought that Alex, her husband of six years would ever change from the caring man he once was, to a man who would risk everything for his gambling habit.

Gambling is gravely an ill habit, but gambling money that you do not have is even worse. When Alex could no longer afford to pay his ‘swelling’ gambling debts, he turned to a loan shark for help. Consequentially, he struggled paying the loan shark back and almost always defaulted on the scheduled payments. As a result of his careless actions, the family was intimidated and continually received unwanted violent visits from the loan shark. Divorce was the last thing Sandra wanted, however, when threats from the loan shark escalated, it seemed to be the only solution to guarantee the safety of her only child and her ageing parents.

Sandra always knew that walking away from the marriage would never be easy. What she did not foresee was how tough it would be being the sole breadwinner of the family. She always thought Alex would chip in, even after the divorce. To her surprise, Alex washed his “hands off” all the responsibilities and did not even seem to care about their daughter. Getting a decent job was not easy as she barely graduated from high school. Sandra had to work numerous dead end jobs before she finally found employment as a secretary at a local government agency. Fortunately her salary of RM2000 was more than enough to pay the bills.

Just as things begun to settle down, Sandra received a bankruptcy notice. Her ex-husband took a loan on her name for a car purchase when they got married and defaulted on the payments a couple years back. Sandra was dejected and shocked at her husband’s reckless behavior. The initial loan amount of RM50, 000 ‘ballooned’ to almost RM250, 000 in those short years. To make matters worse, Sandra realized that the said car was in the possession of a loan shark as part payment for her husband’s debt. This further made the car untraceable and repossession by the bank almost impossible. Distraught Sandra took advice from her close friends, picked up the phone and dialed… AKPK for help!

After meeting Sandra and understanding her predicaments, AKPK issued a proposal to the bank concerned to accept a full and final settlement amount of RM 50,000 to be paid at 0% interest via monthly installments of RM 500. The bank immediately replied to the proposal fully agreeing with the settlement plan. The acceptance from the bank, which came in two weeks just before Sandra’s court date, provided the relief she much needed! She was glad that the agency was able to act swiftly and save her from bankruptcy. Though she will have to keep up with her payments from here on, Sandra finally felt that with the help AKPK provided, she was one step closer to complete financial freedom. She now looks forward to better days with her family.